Many buildings are equipped with vertically sliding doors which open and close using a track assembly, such as garage doors and loading dock doors. Such doors are subject to buckling or warping which causes the door to separate from the frame. As a garage door is usually the single largest opening to the building, and any variance between the door and the door frame is proportionally magnified, producing a gap large enough to allow pests such as rodents, snakes, and large insects to bypass the door and gain entry into the building through such gaps. The presence of pests within the building is not only unpleasant, but can lead to significant structural damage to the building as well as cause the spread of disease when the pests are vectors for the spread of pathogens.
To prevent pests from passing through gaps between the door and the door frame, many garage doors have weather stripping installed on the exterior of the door to cover any gaps which appear between the door and the door frame. Other solutions exist in the prior art which also serve to externally seal off contact between the door frame and the door, or seek to reinforce the exterior of the door frame or the door. However, none of these solutions address the problem of warping. For example, if the door warps or buckles inwardly, this may produce a gap between the door and the weather stripping through which pests may enter. Further, externally mounted reinforcing means have the side effect of spoiling the visual integrity of the original door and frame.
A need therefore exists for an adjustable barrier which prevents the entry of pests into the building through the garage door, while overcoming the deficiencies of the prior art.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.